Schooling, Cleaning, Scheduling and Baking....

We're finally back into a bit of a rhythm of schooling. I've decided that cleaning is going to be part of my daughters curriculum, that way her room gets somewhat straightened, and things stay in a semblance of order *smiles*

I'm using a magnetic chore chart.


I've been trying to keep us to a bit of a schedule. She seems to like the fact that there is some structure! She also seems to like the fact that I've determined to make her my number one priority. I'm weeding things out of our lives, some movies she's been watching aren't particularly honoring to God, so they had to go. Some of my movies have had to go, also. It's tough, but above all, I want to honor and glorify God. I'm sure that as we grow as a family, some things I'm thinking are OK at this point will be weeded out later. Deuteronomy 6:7 has been speaking to me "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." I want to make sure that my daughter is being taught to love, honor and glorify God in all she does. In order to do that, I have to make sure MY life is doing all that.

We're also learning about being frugal and saving money. After all, we're to be stewards of what God has given us. So, in the spirit of frugality, we made our own laundry soap!

First, we shredded one bar of laundry soap (Fels Naptha).

Then we melted that in four cups of hot water over med-low heat.

My daughter filled the five gallon bucket halfway with water.

After that we added the washing soda, borax and melted soap mixture to the water and stirred it.

Then we filled it to the top with water, covered it and let it sit overnight. We used it yesterday and it worked just as well as "regular" store-bought detergent!

After we made the soap, we took a little break, and made BROWNIES!!! I'd been craving them for about a week, and finally found a recipe for which I already had all the ingredients *smiles*